Govt accused of socialism

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32543, 1 March 1971, Page 14

Govt accused of socialism

“The National Government has at last managed to ‘out-socialise’ the Socialists, and this is probably why the Labour Party finds it cannot offer effective opposition to the Stabilisation of Remuneration Bill,” claimed Mr J. S. Fountain, the Social Credit League’s spokesman for industries and commerce, in a statement released in Christchurch.

It was now obvious that there was no difference between the “Labour Party’s socialism” and the “National Party’s socialism,” he claimed.

The latest legislation, which had been “made imperative” by the fiscal policy of the Government in the last 10 years, embodied controls and restrictions so dictatorial that the most ardent of socialists had tried to avoid and deny them in the past, said Mr Fountain. “The Stabilisation of Remuneration Bill virtually vests in the State the power to de-

cide what everyone’s income shall be, what price everyone shall pay for everything, and from there it is only a very short step to the State deciding what everyone shall ■produce and what everyone shall consume,” said Mr Fountain.

While such legislation was being enforced by men who claimed to be “champions of free enterprise” the Labour Party could be expected to sit on the fence and watch its opponents rush head-long into oblivion on the Labour Party’s own philosophy which had already been tried, and rejected by the New Zealand voters, he said.